


Doorways

by bibliomaniac



Category: Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator
Genre: M/M, Mutual Pining, One Shot, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-29
Updated: 2017-09-29
Packaged: 2019-01-06 18:31:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12216486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bibliomaniac/pseuds/bibliomaniac
Summary: Damien doesn't have an ulterior motive for inviting Craig and River over. Really. If he gets to watch his crush and an adorable baby being cute together, that's just...a nice side effect.(Okay, he may have a bit of an ulterior motive.)





	Doorways

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MissyScarlet](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissyScarlet/gifts).



Damien would like the record to show the following: While he is indeed ridiculously smitten with Craig Cahn, the man across the street, his motives for inviting him over for tea are completely pure.

His motives for saying _River_ can come along, now, those are perhaps less so.

Damien loves children. He always has. He loves Lucien, who is no longer so much child as he is young adult, just the same, but he looks back on memories of their time together when Lucien was an infant with a fondness that borders on idealized. Sure, he knows objectively there was a lot of bad there—still dealing with the logistics of being a single parent, still reeling from the newness of being out to the world, still in pain from the cruel words of his ex-husband Mark. But he remembers so much _good_ also— the time spent cuddling with Lucien, cooing over his precious boy, going perhaps a bit too far on baby clothes given his budget, melting as his son places a tremulous fist around his finger. There was so much _trust_ there, so much love inherent in being completely responsible for another human being, and Damien will admit to himself privately that he misses it.

So, when his new (painfully attractive, wonderfully kind) neighbor moved in across the road a year ago with a newborn, well—could anyone _really_ blame Damien for inviting River over once he had gotten over his initial new-crush terror? Of course not, he reasons with himself as he prepares a sippy cup full of apple juice—and don’t ask him why he has a sippy cup, and don’t ask him why he has apple juice. (He had gotten them both for River. He has an inkling that Craig knows he didn’t ‘just have an old sippy cup lying around’, and that Lucien isn’t the apple juice fanatic Damien claims him to be, but if he knows he hasn’t said anything.) Anyway, it’s not a crime to want to play with a baby, is the point, and it’s also not a crime to invite the parent attached to aforementioned baby for tea.

The doorbell rings, and Damien brightens, smoothing the fabric of his pants over his thighs and giving the tea setup one last critical look-over before rushing to the door.  
  
“Craig, hello!” Damien says happily, then beams at the wide-eyed baby on the carrier on Craig’s chest. “And to you as well, my dear. Goodness, look at how big you’re getting!”

“She’s going to outgrow the carrier pretty soon,” Craig agrees, looking mournfully down at the carrier and the baby within. “And then what will I do for my runs? I take her along, you know, for resistance training.”  
  
Damien’s smile freezes at that, because Damien _absolutely knows that already_ from a year of…careful observation… but _Craig_ can’t know that. “Is that so,” he says blandly, then turns around perhaps a touch too abruptly. “Right, then! Today I’ve prepared a lovely selection of finger sandwiches—gluten free bread, of course—and some lemon verbena tea. It will go perfectly with the cucumber, I thought, they’re both so light…” 

He continues to chatter away, rambling on as he tends to do when he’s nervous, and leads Craig into the parlor. Craig knows where the parlor is, of course, they’ve been in here a good number of times already, but it’s only polite. He eyes the setup again before blanching. Somehow he’s managed to bring out the salt shaker instead of the container of sugar. “Well, that could have been unfortunate,” he says, deftly removing the salt shaker and moving over to the kitchen. “Make yourselves at home, please. I made some peanut butter and jelly for River, too, I know she’s fond of those!”

He busies himself in the kitchen with getting the sugar, which only takes a few seconds, and with attempting to calm himself down, which takes longer. _God, Damien, get a hold of yourself,_ he chides himself. _You really can’t get like this every time you talk to Craig. It’s been a_ year, _for goodness’ sake._ He doesn’t think these little self-talks do much, really, but he always tries anyway.

As he walks in the hallway from the kitchen to the parlor, his steps slow as he hears Craig’s voice.

“You’re such a messy eater, little dude,” he’s saying, not reproachful but amused. “Come on, we don’t want to get jelly over Mr. Damien’s nice couches, huh? I can clean you up just fine, but these couches look like they cost more than you and me combined.”  
  
(Damien narrows his eyes at that. As if anyone could _possibly_ put a price on Craig _or_ River. They’re both far too precious for that, far more precious than any couch will ever be.)  
  
A pause as River gurgles, then, “You’re done with the sandwich now? That was fast.” Laughter from them both. Damien walks silently forward, and is greeted with a sight so charming he thinks he might cry. Craig is hunched over to talk with River, who’s standing on the ground and steadying herself with Craig’s knee. A loving expression is on Craig’s face as he cleans jelly off of River’s mouth. The whole scene is so utterly domestic, and Damien is _so_ weak, and so he stays in the doorway to watch, fascinated.

“Here, apple juice time, now,” Craig says, passing the sippy cup to River, then sighing as she begins to drink from it. “Apple juice really isn’t that good for you, bro. But Mr. Damien gets it special for you, and you clearly love it, so I can’t really put my foot down here.”  
  
Damien flushes. So Craig _does_ know. 

Craig continues thoughtfully, “Damien does stuff like that a lot, huh, River? Like the sippy cup, and the time he brought over that outfit just your size and said his friend had had a baby shower and didn’t like it, or the time he brought over diapers and said a different friend had had a different baby shower and got too many diapers.” He pauses, Damien turning redder by the moment. “Also, Damien, how long are you going to stand there?” Craig asks casually. “You planning on coming back in?”

 _Oh my God._ “In a moment,” Damien squeaks at an embarrassingly high pitch, hiding his face behind one hand and presenting the sugar with the other, almost like a peace offering.

Craig raises an amused eyebrow, but lets Damien take his moment before they sit down and begin to eat and talk. Luckily Craig doesn’t bring any of what just happened up, considerate of Damien’s feelings as always, and soon enough they’ve moved past it and into a rather scintillating conversation about modern dance. 

Craig excuses himself to go to the bathroom after a while—“too much tea, dude—” and Damien waves him off with a smile, secretly ecstatic to have some time with River. He props her up on his lap and begins an energetic game of peek-a-boo. 

(And Damien doesn’t notice that Craig leans against the doorway as well when he returns, watching the two of them with a fond smile, feelings that are becoming more clear every day swelling in his chest. Damien never does, after all. For someone so smart, he’s awfully oblivious.

But Craig doesn’t really mind in the end, not if it means he can watch his (unequivocally gorgeous, heart-wrenchingly sweet) neighbor play with his daughter for a bit longer. The rest of it? That can come later.)

**Author's Note:**

> ty for reading! tumblr is [anuninterestingperson](http://anuninterestingperson.tumblr.com) if u wanna drop by!


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